The Hindu : New Delhi News : A week of some disappointment and a delightful surprise

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New Delhi

A week of some disappointment and a delightful surprise

ZIYA US SALAM

NOWHERE TO SOMEWHERE: Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Bombay to Bangkok” is a disappointment while Anirudhha Roy Chowdhury’s long-delayed “Anuranan” is worth a visit.

NOWHERE TO SOMEWHERE: Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Bombay to Bangkok” is a disappointment while Anirudhha Roy Chowdhury’s long-delayed “Anuranan” is worth a visit.

BOMBAY TO BANGKOK

(At PVR Rivoli and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

With just half a dozen films in a decade, Nagesh Kukunoor has been less than an annual filmmaker. Now, it turns out, the tortoise is trying to be a hare! “Bombay to Bangkok”, released this weekend, is likely to be the first of his three forays at the box office this year.

The effort is showing! The skilful practitioner of a difficult craft, who has often married sweat and perseverance to his talent, is now headed the corporate way: making hay while the sun shines. Gone is the patient chiselling that he was known for to etch out his characters, the attention to detail is wavering, and Nagesh Kukunoor has come up with a film he would not be too proud of when he has the benefit of hindsight.

Why hindsight? Because this one here is a disappointment, plain and proper. You don’t have to look back in sorrow; just a mirror will do. Yes, there are crumbs of comfort as in Shreyas Talpade’s acting prowess, his ability to make the ordinary appealing. He has an endearing face that lends itself to a range of characters, from the humble to the comic to the overtly emotional. But, as one said, that is just a crumb. The whole slice that left such a wonderful after-taste in his earlier films is missing. The smiles come intermittently, the emotion seldom so in a comedy that does not go the distance.

Oh, by the way, this film is supposed to be a freshener of sorts for Nagesh after the emotionally-laden “Iqbal” and “Dor”. So he keeps the atmosphere light. Too light, as it turns out in this story of a cook who is a bit of a crook.

Shreyas plays a cook at the receiving end of local mafia – we have the key villain Jamal exposing his midriff in an ugly, avoidable show of flesh. We have his godfather, Naseeruddin Shah, thoroughly, completely wasted in a role he probably did to keep a promise. Yes, Shah looks handsome and does his thing with the professionalism expected of him. But there is too little of him as the camera lingers around Shreyas’ journey from Bombay to Bangkok, masquerading as a doctor, even treating patients in Thailand. He meets his lady love – Lina Christianson – there. Predictably, the girl is a masseur! The easy stereotype gives Nagesh the licence to sneak in flesh show, some double entendres, and the language barrier makes for more puns than intended! There are corny bits with toilet humour thrown in too.

It is the kind of cinema one would accept from a lesser filmmaker. With Nagesh, we expect and deserve better. Sorry, with its slow pace, predictable jokes, and lack of drama “Bombay to Bangkok” goes nowhere. Stay home.

ANURANAN

(At Wave, Noida, and other theatres)

Call it a quirk of fate, if you will. While Nagesh Kukunoor gets off the high horse of morality and finds eager financiers and distributors for “Bombay to Bangkok” – never mind the disappointing show he churns out on the screen – Anirudhha Roy Chowdhury with his adult romance has no such luck. His “Anuranan” has got rave reviews wherever it has been screened for a little more than a year now.

The problem is it has not been shown often enough at enough centres. The support system from the market, so crucial to a film’s release, has not been there.

Finally now it has managed a low-key, limited-print release in and around the National Capital Region and elsewhere in the country. While a couple of theatres are playing the Bengali version, the Hindi version of the film is being shown at a solitary theatre. There is little awareness, absolutely no publicity for this uplifting film. It rankles, it hurts. Simply because this Rahul Bose-Rajat Kapoor starrer with lovely ladies Rituparna Sengupta and Raima Sen for company deserves to be seen.

A visual treat with breathtaking spectacle of the English countryside followed by more than a glimpse of the under-utilised North-East, this film has a soul that helps carry it beyond the language barrier. Relating an adult story of two ostensibly happily married couples, this film is conspicuous by the complete absence of melodrama.

Rahul plays an upwardly mobile Indian guy in Britain who, against the tide, heads home. Soon, he joins forces with Rajat Kapoor as they seek to discover the real India, lend a commercial touch to unexplored territories. An innocent incident changes their life: a simple journey of a married man with his friend’s wife assumes a different dimension, as a tragedy strikes them at the hill station. The social stigma? The inevitable questioning of morals and the like….

Yet Aniruddha keeps a tight leash on the proceedings as Raima gives nice nuances to her complex character of a woman found at the wrong spot at the wrong time. The other three lead players do their bit; the cameraman his. No sermon, no loud dialogues, no hysteria. Just a story that draws it strength from simple human emotions.

Result? We end up with a film that stays in the mind long after the credits roll. Visually pleasing, it tucks at the heart strings too.

“Anuranan”, meaning “resonance”, lives up to its name. Pity, not many people would queue up to watch it. Why? Simply because not many know the film is playing at a theatre in their city!

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